CHARGE to double N3 EV hubs to 720 kW — more solar, more batteries, still not your daily charger

What CHARGE announced

In an August 2026 press release, CHARGE said demand at the Reitz (Free State) and Colenso–Winterton (KwaZulu-Natal) hubs — opened in May 2026 — justified bringing forward a capacity upgrade targeted for completion before year-end 2026. Key figures from that primary release:

CHARGE estimates the two upgraded hubs could generate about 1.6 GWh of renewable energy a year if output is directed to mobility, and puts indicative range-add maths at ~150 km in 15 minutes at a constant 120 kW for a passenger EV (actual results vary). The company also frames the sites as a step toward megawatt-class charging on a later N1 rollout.

Status caveat (26 Oct 2026): the upgrade is a published plan with a year-end target, not a completion notice. Live connector counts and tariffs still belong in the CHARGE app on the day you travel. Secondary reporting in October still described the expansion as planned.

Why off-grid corridor hubs matter

These sites do not lean on Eskom or municipal feeders for the charge session. Solar fills batteries; batteries feed DC. That is useful when local networks are constrained and when freight operators want predictable high-power stops on the Durban–Gauteng corridor. It is the same design logic as battery-backed urban DC (for example SAEV’s Richmond site) — reliability during unstable grid periods — at highway scale.

What it means for your wallet

Corridor DC is for trips. Compare:

• Home metro energy — roughly R3.30–R4.70/kWh on many 2026/27 residential blocks, plus fixed charges.
• Public DC examples — Rubicon FAQ ~R7.00/kWh; GridCars citations ~R7.35/kWh; SAEV Richmond ~R3.49/kWh (solar+BESS-backed — other sites may differ).
• Petrol — an 8 L/100 km car at inland 95 ~R30.25/L (from 7 Oct 2026) is still ~R242 per 100 km.

Even “expensive” public DC usually beats petrol per kilometre. It rarely beats a dedicated home wallbox on a normal tariff — and it almost never beats daytime solar surplus diverted into the car. Full desk: EV charging in South Africa · cost to charge · public networks.

Policy backdrop (same month)

Separately, CHARGE’s 16 October 2026 MTBPS note argued that imported BEVs can face customs plus ad valorem that together add more than half a vehicle’s customs value before VAT on a worked R500 000 example (R125 000 customs + R141 750 ad valorem in their illustration). That is a tax/policy story for Budget 2027 — not a reason to skip a CoC’d home charger if you already drive electric.

Trip-planning maths drivers actually need

CHARGE’s claim that six simultaneous cars should still see at least 120 kW each (with free capacity allowing a single connector toward 600 kW) is a shared-bus story. What you feel in the cabin is state-of-charge curve, ambient temperature and the car’s own DC limit — many passenger BEVs taper hard above ~80%. Plan stops for the 10–80% window when you can.

• 15 minutes at a constant 120 kW ≈ 30 kWh into the pack → roughly 150–200 km of range on an efficient hatch (CHARGE’s ~150 km illustration is in that band).
• Two hubs on the N3 (Reitz; Colenso–Winterton) do not replace a full Joburg–Durban pin map. Keep GridCars, Rubicon, SAEV and OEM apps as backups.
• Tariff unknown until the app says so. Capacity upgrades change power delivery; they do not automatically cut R/kWh. Budget against published public-DC examples (~R7/kWh class; SAEV Richmond ~R3.49 as a solar+BESS outlier) and check live.

Off-grid design vs urban battery-buffered DC

CHARGE’s hubs refill from their own PV + BESS. SAEV’s Richmond factory site does the same at urban scale (1 MW rooftop + 2.25 MWh). Both chase reliability when feeders are constrained. Differences that matter to a driver:

Freight and coach operators care about guaranteed high-power windows and predictable dwell. Households care that neither network changes the commuting spreadsheet — that still runs on home AC and self-used PV.

What “1.6 GWh toward mobility” does not mean for your bill

CHARGE’s illustrative annual renewable output for the two upgraded hubs is a project-level energy figure. It is not a voucher on your municipal account. Your avoided rand come from (1) not buying petrol on the corridor and (2) not buying public-DC kWh for daily kilometres. Keep those ledgers separate when someone tries to sell you a highway membership as a “solar strategy.”

Checklist before you leave Gauteng or Durban

1. Confirm both N3 hubs show available connectors in the CHARGE app the morning you roll.
2. Carry a charged Type 2 cable for destination AC (hotels, malls) if DC queues build.
3. Know your car’s DC peak and taper — a “600 kW capable” pile will not magic a 100 kW car into 600.
4. Pre-condition the battery on approach in cold Highveld mornings.
5. Have a Plan B pin 40–60 km either side.

Related desk: public networks · charging etiquette · SAEV Richmond · EV charging pillar.

Sources

• CHARGE press release — N3 capacity double (19 Aug 2026)
• CHARGE press release — MTBPS 2026 tax / renewable charging (16 Oct 2026)
• IOL / The Star secondary (20 Oct 2026) — upgrade still described as planned toward end-2026
• Solar News 24 tariff and public-network answer pages linked above